[Effect of environmental pollution on medical visits for respiratory infections in children in Mexico City].
OBJECTIVE
To model the variability of medical visits by children for respiratory reasons as a consequence of the daily changes in environmental pollution observed in the emergency and family medicine departments of a hospital of the Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social located in the southwest of Mexico City during 1993.


METHODS
The correlation between the presence of upper and lower respiratory tract infections and exposure to ozone and nitrogen dioxide was studied. To model this association, the authors used multivariate Poisson regression models with linear and non-linear risk, with lag periods between the environmental measurements and the medical visits of one, two and three days, as well as the average of the measurements of three, five and seven days previous to the visit.


RESULTS
The model estimates that an increment of 50 ppb in the daily average of ozone would cause an increase of 9.9% in emergency visits due to high respiratory tract infections during the winter, which could rise to 30% if the increment would last five consecutive days in average.


CONCLUSIONS
Results suggest that exposure of children younger than 15 years of age to ozone and nitrogen dioxide significantly affect the number of medical visits for respiratory causes in this part of Mexico City.
Téllez-Rojo
M M
MM
Centro de Investigación en Salud Poblacional, Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública, México.
Romieu
I
I
Polo-Peña
M
M
Ruiz-Velasco
S
S
Meneses-González
F
F
Hernández-Avila
M
M
D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004781:Environmental Exposure; D004787:Environmental Pollution; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008800:Mexico / Q000453:epidemiology; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009585:Nitrogen Dioxide / Q000009:adverse effects; D010126:Ozone / Q000009:adverse effects; D016012:Poisson Distribution; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012141:Respiratory Tract Infections / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012621:Seasons; D012737:Sex Factors
D010126:Ozone; D009585:Nitrogen Dioxide
Efecto de la contaminación ambiental sobre las consultas por infecciones respiratorias en niños de la Ciudad de México.